Briar Rose
by ianna28
Summary: Ryan's mad at Eric, and it's Valentine's Day. SLASH! Don't like, don't read.


Disclaimer: I own nothing. Wish I did though, I love all three.

A/N: Ignore the shameless use of Sleeping Beauty

Now don't get me wrong, I love Eric. We've been together for almost eight years now. Five years ago we had a simple, but meaningful, ceremony of exchanging our vows and promise with each other, just in front of our friends from the lab, my brother and his wife and son, and Eric's family. I even gave in and let him plan it all on Valentine's Day. But Eric knows I hate Valentine's Day, the holiday, not our anniversary. He tried something last year and we ended up pulling a Double shift. Bye, bye plans. We celebrate our anniversary on the weekend now. I know he's planning something against this year, I know he is. How do I know? It's Saturday and he isn't here.

He was gone before I woke up, and now it's almost dinner time. He didn't leave a note, and when I tried to call him he had changed his voice mail. "Hey, you've reached Eric Delko, leave me a message. And Ryan don't worry, I'll be back tonight, nothing's wrong, I promise." Jerk. He should be here, we've been waiting for months for a call back from our agent at the adoption agency. Two years ago we sat down and talked about it and decided that we wanted to adopt a baby. We weren't going to be real picky on age, although we would prefer an infant, we just wanted to be parents, to love and spoil our child. He should be waiting here with me.

I sighed and walked into the kitchen to make some dinner, stick half of it in the oven for whenever he got home. Happy Fifth Anniversary. I poked my head in the fridge and looked around for something to make that wasn't our normal dinner, but before I could decided I heard the door open a voice call out.

"Ryan Delko!" It was an overly perky female voice. Calleigh.

"I'm in the kitchen Cal!" I grabbed bottle of water instead and closed the door, leaning against it as she walked in. "Hey, why aren't you out with Horatio? It is Valentine's Day, you know." They had gotten married a year before we did, albeit not on Valentine's Day.

"We've already celebrated." She grinned and brushed back her hair to show off a small pink diamond necklace. The stone was set into a heart shaped silver lining and hung from a relatively short chain so it placed itself between the dip in her collarbone.

"Oh, wow, that beautiful Cal," I smiled with her. She was absolutely in love with it. She didn't like over large or showy pieces and rarely wore jewelry, so the necklace was perfect for her.

"I know. Now come on, you can't go out looking like that." She looked me up and down with a hand on her hip. I frowned and looked down at myself. Black t-shirt and white sweats, no socks. I then looked at what she was wearing. Red tank top with a fitted red blazer top, and flared white trouser pants. Of course she looked a vision, I looked like I was lounging around the house; which I was.

"I'm not going anywhere, Calleigh." I took another drink of my water and walked into the living room, with Calleigh right on my heels. "I'm waiting for Eric to come home."

"Well, that's too bad. Because I've got some dinner reservations with our names on it." She pulled on my arm and pushed me up the stairs.

"I don't do Valentine's Day," I whined, letting her guide me to the bedroom. She pushed me on the bed and opened my closet.

"Which is why I'm taking you out," She threw a beige button up shirt at me, and a white blazer jacket. "You have black pants right?" She pulled out some shoes for me too.

"I have black jeans." I commented getting up from the bed with the clothes in my hand.

"Those will work. Now I'm giving you ten minutes to get dressed and freshened up. I'll be waiting downstairs." She flashed me a smiled and walked out, shutting the door. Damn her straight forward, yet sweet, personality. I can't say no.

And that's why seven minutes later I found myself walking down the stairs, top two buttons undone and adjusting my jacket. "I don't have a car right now." I admitted ruefully. "It's in the shop all weekend."

"That's fine, I drove here anyway." She smiled and held up her keys. "Now come on, we don't wanna be late." She wrapped her arm around mine and smiled brightly. I will admit that her smile is very contagious and I couldn't help but smile just a little at her as I tightened my arm around hers, not about to let her take the lead. I may be with Eric, but I'm still a man, dammit.

Have I also mentioned that her taste in restaurants is very nice? I will admit that I had fun. I offered to pay in the end but she wouldn't let me. Even going as far as to quickly usher the waiter over to give him her credit card when I left for the bathroom, before we had eaten. She insisted since it was her idea and that I wasn't really fond of the holiday. I just shook my head and smiled at her. And then we found ourselves back at the house again, but this time there were two cars in the driveway. One was Eric's, and the other was Horatio's. I looked at Calleigh, then back to the driveway.

"Don't worry about it, he's probably just here to pick me up." It didn't occur to me then, but Calleigh had driven herself. Why would Horatio need to come pick her up?

As soon as the door opened there was a high pitched yipping noise and some resistance at my legs. I looked down and my eyes widened to find a small white-yellow lab puppy jumping at my feet. Oh, Eric was going to get it. He's gone all day then brings back a puppy to destroy my organized house? I don't think so. I closed my eyes and started to count to ten slowly. Sometime during those long ten seconds Calleigh had left my side.

When I opened my eyes I saw the grinning face of my 'husband', (I use the term loosely at this point,) holding the energetic bundle of fur in his arms. "Happy Anniversary, Ryan." Eric beamed.

"You got a puppy for our anniversary?" Wasn't the fifth supposed to be something special? Didn't they all have names, or something?

"Well, the puppy is an accessory gift. It goes with something."

"And what is that something? A kennel?" I asked hopefully.

"No," Eric's grin got wider when Horatio and Calleigh walked in the room, something small, pink, and bundled in Horatio's arms. "A daughter."

My eyes widened when the little pink blanket moved a tiny arm stretched the side. I walked forward slowly, not believing my eyes for a second until I saw the sleepy eyes and little pudgy face of the baby. Slowly I wrapped my arms around the tiny child and held her close to my chest. She yawned, exhaling adorably, and opened her eyes a little further to look at me. I smiled at her and brushed her cheek with my finger. Her tiny hand reached up and wrapped her fingers around mine.

"Her name is Briar Rose Delko," Eric came up next to me having put the puppy back down on the ground. "I knew you wanted to call her Briar, and the mother requested that we name her after her grandmother, Rose. I know it's a corny name, but-" I shook my head cutting Eric off.

"I don't care. She's beautiful. But she can't be more than a few days old." I looked up at Eric, my face lit up like a christmas tree.

Somehow Eric's smile turned sly. "She was born at 2:14 am, today." I stared at him.

"Are you serious?" He chuckled and nodded.

"Completely."

I looked back down at my daughter in my arms and smiled. "Briar Rose Delko," I breathed out. "It suits her I think." Already I could see the soft blonde hairs starting to grow, and I imagined she would have bright blue eyes. "Our own little princess."

"Well, Sleeping Beauty is one of the most romantic stories told," Calleigh grinned at us, leaning against Horatio, his arm around her waist. "True love's first kiss, the search for your one true soulmate."

I grinned at Eric and leaned forward to kiss him softly. "Happy Anniversary." He smiled and leaned his forehead against mine.

"Happy Valentine's Day."


End file.
